As is well known in the art, a significant amount of blood and other body fluids, smoke and vapor are often present at an electrocautery site and are generated as a result of the electrocautery surgery. Since their presence can often render it difficult for a surgeon to see the operating site clearly, devices have been proposed in the past for removing the fluids and smoke.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,888,928; 4,307,720 and 4,683,884 for example, show electrosurgical instruments having a suction tube associated therewith and located in close proximity to the cauterizing blade. While such devices may have some usefulness, they are relatively expensive. Because of this, they are intended to be reused and must, therefore, be cleaned and sterilized after each use. Furthermore, these devices are not necessarily intended to be turned on at all times but are only turned on when it is desired to remove heavy accumulations of fluid and smoke. Thus, when the vacuum sources for these devices are not being operated, smoke rises from the surgery site and can be inhaled by the operating surgeon and other in the operating room.
It has been found that the smoke generated during electrocautery surgery may be carcinogenic and/or otherwise to those who may inhale the same. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,049 to J. E. Gatti, the present Applicant, there is disclosed a simple and inexpensive shield primarily intended to remove smoke generated during electrocautery surgery to prevent a surgeon from inhaling the same. The shield includes a flexible base member connected to a vacuum source with adjustable support means for a flexible clear sheet-like material mounted over the base member to serve as an shield enclosure about a surgery site within which any gases generated as the result of electrocautery surgery would be vented before rising above the shield to be inhaled by the surgeon. While the shield has been useful for the purpose intended, the shield interferes with access to the surgical site on some portions of a patients anatomy and to Applicant's knowledge, no one has ever proposed a simple and inexpensive device primarily intended to remove smoke generated during electrocautery surgery on any portion of a patients anatomy, let alone such a device which does not interfere with the operative surgeon's field of view or access to an electrocautery surgery site on various portions of a patient's anatomy.
Gas venting devices have been proposed for removing anesthetic gases or other fumes or dust from an operating room or a dental consultation room. Such devices are shown for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,877,691; 4,082,092 and 4,446,861. Each of these devices shows a substantially rigid gas venting shield which is mounted at the end of a support arm so that the same can be positioned where needed. Again, however, these devices are relatively expensive and must be cleaned and sterilized after each use.
Other air cleaning or gas venting devices for use in operating rooms and other hospital applications have been proposed such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,063,495; 4,223,669 and 4,468,825. These devices, however, are designed for use with other medical apparatus and, thus, are also relatively expensive and intended to be reused, requiring that they be cleaned and sterilized after each use.
Masks have also been employed by surgeons and other operating room personnel to not only protect the patient but also protect the operating personnel from airborne bacteria, viruses and the like. While simple cloth-filter type masks provide some benefit, they cannot prevent significant amounts of smoke and other dangerous gases from passing therethrough. Masks which include vacuum sources therein for protecting the doctor have been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,599. Such a mask might have some practicality when there is only one doctor present during surgery but would become impractical if each person in the operating room were wearing one. Furthermore, as with the devices discussed above, the mask shown in this patent is relatively expensive and, again, must be cleaned and sterilized after each use.
As is known, gas venting and air cleaning apparatus have been proposed for use in a variety of work situations such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,719,136; 4,071,338; 4,179,984; 4,248,162; 4,596,060; 4,647,295 and 4,868,369. Such apparatus, however, is generally integral with or closely associated with worktables and the like primarily intended for particular mechanical work situations such as welding, and the gas venting apparatus is intended to be reused and is relatively expensive.